With drug prices soaring over the past several years, and with insurance companies and Medicare dropping coverage for some of that – it’s no wonder people are scrambling for ways to save on prescription costs.

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Dropped drugs

As some of you may know, each year, prescription coverage – known as the “formulary” – changes.

According to GoodRx, Express Scripts and Caremark, the two giants in the insurance industry that handle pharmacy benefits for over 200 million Americans, removed over 80 prescription medications from their formularies at the end of 2017.

The good news is, this doesn’t have to mean you can’t afford them. GoodRx can save you up to 100% of the cost of several prescriptions dropped by insurance companies in 2018.

The following are a few examples of more than 80 dropped drugs:

Adderall

Androgel (1%)

Cymbalta

Effexor XR

epinephrine/Epipen

Lexapro

Lunesta

Prozac

Valium

Xanax

Zoloft

Example

Plavix, dropped by Express Scripts, prevents heart attack, stroke or other events in high-risk people. You may not be able to afford to pay the average retail cost of $131.05 out of pocket, but even without insurance, you can get it for a cool $7.51 with GoodRx. That’s a 94% savings, and likely lower than your insurance co-pay would have been anyway.

What should I do if my medication is dropped from my drug plan?

If, your drug is listed there, don’t panic. First, check GoodRx to see if you can afford to pay out of pocket.

If not, there are still a few things you can do to lower your cost even on those drugs.

For example, you can talk to your doctor to see if he/she can prescribe an alternative drug that is covered.

If switching isn’t an option, see if you can find a patient assistance program to cover all or some of the costs.

Here’s the shocker…

You may actually end up saving much more!

How?

Well, some of the brands that are being dropped are actually being replaced buy their generic, less-expensive versions.

For example, out of 64 drugs that Express Scripts has excluded, 46 have a cheaper generic alternative that are still covered.

This also applies to 5 of the drugs dropped by Caremark.

This, happily, means that you end up paying way less for the same drug which is essentially the exact same thing, made with the exact same ingredients, but with a different brand name on the label.

GoodRx app reviews from other users

More than 140,000 doctors recommend GoodRx.

It turns out, most users do too.

One Reddit user whose prescription cost went from $170 to $67 with GoodRx said, “this free internet coupon was more beneficial than the insurance I pay for every month through my employer. You don’t even need to be insured for the discount rate to apply.”

Another said she got a prescription with a retail cost of $304 – for $46 at Walmart.

Other users claim that they’ve had trouble getting Walgreens to accept the card, but the incidents seem isolated. If you have similar issues, contact [email protected].

Some feedback from other recent reviewers:

“I use this for prescriptions that aren’t covered by insurance. Every time I get an estimated price, it’s exactly correct. Some of my meds are 50% or MORE off. INCREDIBLE! I only go to Walgreens and never have had any problems whatsoever, so I don’t know if other pharmacies accept this or not.”

“GoodRx has saved me hundreds of dollars. This app told me that my prescription be $60 and I was being charged $90. Come to find out, I was being charged the higher price because it was being submitted to the insurance company. The pharmacy had to stop submitting it and I got a huge refund.”

“We went to the doctor and asked them to use GoodRx to find comparable prescriptions to switch us to and we saved over $1,000 a month! I would recommend this app to anyone who has lost their insurance or has high co-pays this app is amazing and I wouldn’t use any other prescription discount card! There’s nothing like it!”

“This app literally saved me over $100 the first time I used it! No joke! I had to go to another pharmacy but it wasn’t a problem.”

For medical professionals

Doctors can even utilize GoodRx to help patients save on prescriptions.

If you’re a medical professional, visit www.goodrx.com/doctors to download a GoodRx Savings kit, which consists of a countertop display with pre-activated cards that can save patients up to 80% on prescription costs.